China sets prison terms for 3 Uighur Web managers

New York, August 2,
2010—Three Uighur-language website managers were sentenced Friday to prison
terms of three to 10 years after being found guilty under broad charges of “endangering
state security.” The men had been jailed after ethnic
rioting in July 2009 in Urumqi, capital of the far-western, predominantly
Muslim, Xinjiang
Uighur Autonomous Region.

Nijat Azat, who managed the
website Shabnam, was sentenced to a
10-year prison term; Dilixiati
Paerhati, whose ran the websiteDiyarim,was given a five-year term; and the
webmaster of Salkin, who goes by the
single name Nureli, was sentenced to three years.

The
sites, all of which have been shut down by the government, had run news articles
and discussion groups concerning Uighur issues. In its coverage, The
New York Times cited friends and family members of the men as saying they
were prosecuted for failing to quickly delete content that openly discussed the
difficulties of life in Xinjiang and, in one case, for allowing users to post
messages publicizing the protests that turned violent in July 2009.

“One
year after the rioting that swept through parts of Urumqi
and Xinjiang, China
is silencing Uighur voices,” said Bob Dietz, CPJ’s Asia
program coordinator. “These sentences should be overturned by the court system
immediately.”

The rulings came just days after another Uighur journalist
and website manager was sentenced to a lengthy prison term on antistate charges.
Gheyret Niyaz was
sentenced to 15 years in prison on July 23, according to news reports. All
of the court proceedings were conducted behind closed doors, according to the media
reports.